Question: What is it with all the player injuries? It seems like each day there is another player who can’t perform his duty because of some problem, and the season hasn’t even started. Is this a problem with the club trainers, or have players become too fragile or not taking care of themselves during the offseason? From: Gary Shedd
Answer: Gary, this is a popular question, and I’ve received similar questions from Bob Snyder, Scott Shindell, John Hall and many others.
It’s not just the Orioles. It’s all around baseball, and manager Brandon Hyde is often asked about it. On Sunday, he made an excellent point when someone asked him about it.
As the father of a teenaged son who plays baseball and other sports, he pointed out that boys as young as 10 are pushed to specialize in baseball and not play other sports. That puts pressure on muscles, and children are encouraged to throw harder and they’re playing in many more competitive games than we did when we were younger.
On the professional level, pitchers are encouraged to rely on fastballs, and after his start last Saturday, 41-year-old Charlie Morton talked about the dramatic increase in the number of hard throwers between the time he came into the majors in 2008 and now.
It’s a number of factors and while it would be easy to blame trainers or conditioning or players not taking care of themselves, it’s a difficult subject with no easy solution.
Question: How does the spring training minor league camp work? Is it at Ed Smith Stadium. Do they play a schedule against other teams. Is it divided by class? Been a fan for 65 years but never thought about it before. Thanks From: Dean In West Virginia
Answer: Dean, minor leaguers train at Twin Lakes Park, which is about 10 miles from Ed Smith Stadium. Beginning Wednesday, they’ll play games against other teams. Those games end on March 28th. They’re generally combined teams with Double-A and Triple-A players or High-A and Single-A players facing similar teams from other nearby organizations — Braves, Pirates and Rays.
Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit a question, send it to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com. Questions may be edited for clarity, length and style.